Explain a bit more the difference between Hashtbl and Maps#3631
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Explain a bit more the difference between Hashtbl and Maps#3631LordPatate wants to merge 2 commits into
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The current introduction mentions multiple differences to chose one or the other but only gives one advantage to Hashtbl. It is not obvious why would one chose Maps over Hashtbl.
Discuss a little bit more the differences, especially the advantages over Hashtbl, without going too much into the details. The advantages of Maps were never mentioned, while the main advantage of Hashtbl was present in their own page. Unless the reader dived into the library or did their own research on self-balancing binary search trees, Maps could seem like a "worse" Hash Table; or only exist for the functional interface.
cuihtlauac
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Apr 29, 2026
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Thanks @LordPatate. Make sure to only use capitals for standard library module names or tutorial titles, data structures don't need them
| on [Hash Tables](/docs/hash-tables). | ||
| Maps offer a functional interface that Hash Tables do not | ||
| and maintain total ordering of the keys, allowing more operations; | ||
| while Hash Tables have better search performance on average. |
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| while Hash Tables have better search performance on average. | |
| while hash tables have better search performance on average. |
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| For a different implementation of an association table in OCaml's Standard Library, see the tutorial | ||
| on [Hash Tables](/docs/hash-tables). | ||
| Maps offer a functional interface that Hash Tables do not |
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| Maps offer a functional interface that Hash Tables do not | |
| `Map` offer a functional interface that `Hashtbl` do not |
| table`](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_table) is able to retrieve | ||
| information at a nearly instantaneous constant time complexity (O(1)). | ||
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| **Note:** For more details on the differences between Hash Tables and Maps, |
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| **Note:** For more details on the differences between Hash Tables and Maps, | |
| **Note:** For more details on the differences between hash tables and associative maps, |
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The current Hashtbl introduction mentions multiple differences to chose one or the other, but only gives one advantage to Hashtbl.
It is not obvious why would one chose Maps over Hashtbl.
The advantages of Maps were never mentioned, while the main advantage of Hashtbl was present in their own page.
Unless the reader dived into the library or did their own research on self-balancing binary search trees, Maps could seem like a "worse" Hash Table; or only exist for the functional interface.
I tried adding a little more information without going into too much detail and referenced Wikipedia for more.